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I recently submitted this entry to the Cardiff University Doctoral Academy's Images of Research competition, so I thought I'd repost it here.

This is the crypt at the Necromanteion, in Greek Epirus next to the river Acheron. It is featured in the poems of Homer. In the ancient Greco-Roman world it was thought to be the entrance to the underworld. Adherents would arrive through the labyrinthine passages of a small religious complex above, to be lowered through an opening in the roof of the crypt where the modern steps are now.

I took this image while on a research trip to Greece in 2016. My research is into the destructive effects of Roman imperialism in the period 343-146 BCE, and this site was one casualty of Roman warfare in 168 BCE. It was probably patched up and remained in use; later the grotto was forgotten, and the religious sanctuary transformed first into an Ottoman fortified house and later into a Christian monastery. The ancient crypt remained below, waiting to be …